Lamp testing apparatus



Oct. 31, 1961 n. L. SNYDER ET AL I 3,006,467

LAMP TESTING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 26, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS DONALD L S/YYDfR IWBEKT A. l/[LW/G t I C, W ATTOR EY Oct. 31, 1961 D. L. SNYDER ET AL 3,006,467

LAMP TESTING APPARATUS Filed D66. 26, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS oo/v/uo L. s/vrom BY ROBE/F7 A. HELW/G ATTOR Y- D. L. SNYDER ET AL LAMP TESTING APPARATUS Oct. 31, 1961 Filed Dec.

Oct. 31, 1961 D. SNYDER ET AL LAMP TESTING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 26, 1957 Oct. 31, 1961 D. L. SNYDER ETAL 3,006,467

LAMP TESTING APPARATUS 52 A94 Hz Filed Dec. 26, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 JHL -q w u 00mm 1.. s/vmm 7 l g United States Patent 3,006,467 LAMP TESTING APPARATUS Donald L. Snyder, Montoursville, and Robert A. Helwig,

Williamsport, Pa., assignors, by mesne assignments, to

Sylvania Electric Products Inc., Wilmington, Del., a

corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 26, 1957, Ser. No. 705,327 7 Claims. (Cl. 209-80) This invention relates to the manufacture of electric lamps and more particularly to the manufacture of photoflash lamps.

In the manufacture of photofiash lamps, an hermetically sealed, light-transmitting envelope is usually provided with a filling of combustible foil shredded to filamentary form, a combustion-supporting gas, and ignition means in operative relationship to the combustible. The ignition means usually comprises a tungsten filament supported by a pair of lead-in wires provided with a quantity of ignition paste disposed thereon at or near the juncture thereof to the filament. The lead-in wires extend from an end of the lamp envelope and into a metal base which is afiixed thereto. One of these lead-in wires is connected to an electrical contact on the bottom of the base which defines the end contact and the other lead-in wire is connected to the side of the base to define the side contact. In use, the photoflash lamp is seated in a receptacle therefor in a photofiash gun which includes a reflector and a source of electrical energy, usually a battery. Since firing of the lamp is synchronized with the operation of the camera shutter, it is essential that the lamp ignition system be accurate and reliable. If the lamp does not fire with the prescribed precision, or if it fails to fire, an inferior quality of picture or no picture at all results. Proper seating of the lamp in its receptacle is necessary to insure attainment of the proper distribution pattern of the light from the reflector. If the lamp is not seated properly in its receptacle, proper light distribution patterns will not be obtained and the quality of the photography will be poor. One cause of improper seating is improper positioning the base on the lamp. While a slight canting of the base on the lamp envelope might appear to be a minor defect insofar as lamp manufacturing operations are concerned, when the finished lamp is seated in its receptacle in a photofiash gun, it becomes readily apparent that the lamp is not properly positioned for good photographic results.

In View of the foregoing, an object of this invention is to effect inspection of photofiash lamps to ascertain whether or not their electrical continuity meets prescribed standards.

Another object of this invention is to provide automatic apparatus for inspecting the electrical continuity of photoflash lamps.

A further object is to effect inspection of photoflash lamps to ascertain whether or not their bases are properly seated thereon.

A further object is to provide automatic apparatus for checking the seating of bases on photofiash lamps.

These and other objects, advantages and features are attained in accordance with the principles of our invention by providing a lamp-carrying conveyor with an inspection station at which an electro-mechanical inspector checks the continuity and the concentricity of each lamp, temporarily stores the information acquired during the check, and subsequently transmits this information to actuate a rejector at a rejection station to which the lamps are advanced by the conveyor, the actuated rejector effecting the discharge of the defective lamps from the conveyor.

In the specific embodiment of the invention illustrated Patented Oct. 31, 1961 in the accompanying drawings, FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the apparatus located at an inspection station.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a transverse sectional view of the apparatus of FIGURE 1, taken along the line 33 thereof.

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the apparatus located at a rejection station.

FIGURE 5 is a front elevational view of the apparatus located at the rejection station.

FIGURE 6 is a schematic diagram of an electrical circuit associated with the inspecting and rejecting apparatus.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGURES 2, 4 and 5 thereof, it will be noted that each lamp 10 is carried by a pair of jaws 12 and 14 pivotally mounted on rods 16 and 18 respectively on bracket 20 which is attached to mounting plate 22 on chain 24. The pivot rods 16 and 18 are provided with gears 26 and 28 respectively, which mesh with one another at all times. A pair of mounting pins 30 project from the inside face of jaws 12 and 14 and support a spring 32 extending therebetween. An apertured guide 34 is attached to one of the pins 30, the other pin 30 extending therethrough. A pair of cam followers 36 and 38, the function of which will be described hereinafter, are mounted on the top of jaw 12.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 2, it will be noted that each lamp supporting jaw assembly is further characterized by a wheel 40 mounted on bracket 20 and a pair of wheels 42 attached to the chain 24. The wheels 40 of the lamp supporting jaw assemblies ride in track 44 and the wheels 42 of the chain 24 ride in track 46; The relative location of tracks 44 and 46 with respect to one another is such that they steady the heads and define a fixed path through which the chain 24 moves.

The tracks '44 and 46 are mounted on support castings 48, which are mounted on and keyed to a main support shaft 50.

It will be noted from an examination of FIGURES 2 and 5 that in the specific embodiment of the invention disclosed in the accompanying drawings, a dual production arrangement is provided whereby similar mechanisms operate simultaneously on lamps carried by an upper and a lower conveyor chain. Since these mechanisms and their actuating devices are substantially the same, only one of the arrangements will be described in detail.

Indexing means, not shown, advances five lamps at a time on each chain conveyor into the test station shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings. A continuity check assembly indicated generally by the reference numeral 52, and a concentricity check assembly indicated generally by the reference numeral 54 are disposed at this station. The continuity check assembly 52 comprises a base frame 56 and a continuity check housing 58 mounted thereon, the base frame 56 being slidably supported on a pair of guide rods 60 mounted in support brackets 62 on the main support shaft 50. The concentricity assembly 54 comprises a base frame 64 slidably supported on the guide rods 60. A toggle support 66, fixedly mounted on guide rods 60 between the continuity check assembly 52 and the concentricity check assembly 54, is provided with a pair of elongated slots '68 through which pins 70 extend. A pair of 72 connect base frame 64 to pins 70. A pair of links 74 connect pins 70 to one end of an operating shaft 76. The operating shaft 76 extends through and is slidable in bearings (FIG. 3) in the base (frame 56. An operating arm 78 is fixedly mounted on and connects the upper and lower operating shafts 76 (FIG. 2) to one another. A compression spring 80 is disposed on each of the operating shafts 76 between the ends of the operating arm 78 and the support brackets 62. Reciprocation of the operating shaft 76 is effected by a cam 82 on cam shaft 84, through cam follower 86 on one end of rocker arm 88. The rocker arm 88 is mounted intermediate its ends on rocker arm shaft 90 which extends between and is supported by support brackets 62. The other end of rocker arm 88 is connected to the operating arm 78 by rod end 92.

Each continuity check housing 58 (upper and lower as shown in FIGURE 2) contains five identical mechanisms for checking the continuity of the lamps advanced to the test station. One of these mechanisms is shown in detail in FIGURE 3. It comprises a bushing 102 of insulating material fitted into and extending through an aperture therefor in a face of the housing 58, a spring loaded electrical contact rod 104 extending through the bushing 102, and an electrical contact plug 106 attached to the outer end of the bushing 102, the rod 104 and the plug 106 being insulated from one another. The inner end of the plug 106 abuts a common electrical terminal bar 108 (FIGS. 1 and 3), insulating washers 110 being disposed between terminal bar 108 and the adjacent face of the continuity check housing 58. The inner end of the electrical contact rod 104 engages an electrical contact 112 on one end of a spring loaded contact arm 114. The other end of arm 114 is pivotally mounted on an electrical contact holder 116 to which terminal 118 is connected by screw 120. The block 122 of insulating material mounted on the housing 58 serves as a support,- ing structure for the mounting of the contact holder 116 and the terminal 118. The continuity check housing 58 is provided with a cover 124 attached thereto by thumb screws 126. Wires 128 from each of the five continuity checking devices just described are fed out of an end (FIG. 1) of the cover 124 and through angle plug 130 and cable 132 to a suitable control panel (not shown), which contains the control apparatus shown schematically in FIGURE. 6. Wire 109 extending from the common electrical terminal bar 108, is fed out to a source of electrical energy through angle plug 130 and cable 132.

Each concentricity check base frame 64 7 (upper and block 142. A spring-loaded plunger 146 is disposed in I and extends through a spring retainer 148 which is in turn disposed in the sleeve 144, the underside of the head of the plunger 146 seating on an inturned flange .of the spring retainer 148 and the tail of the plunger extending through sleeve .144. One end of a ground terminal 150 is maintainedin positive engagement with the shouldered end of plunger 146 by compression spring 152 and washer 154, a ground 156 being attached to the other end thereof. The ground terminal 150 is supported by a plate'158 of insulating material attached to a supporting block 160. 7 .Each finger support block 142 (FIG. 3) is provided with four chambers, within each of which a spring-loaded contact finger 162 is pivotally mounted. Electrical contact rings 164 and 166 encircle the finger support block 142. Electrical terminal screws 168 extend through contact ring164 and normally engage the inner ends of :the contact fingers 162. -Electrical terminal screws 170 extend through contact ring 166 and normally engage ;the contact fingers 162 intermediate the ends thereof. Wires 172 and 174 connected to the terminal screws 168 and 170 respectively are fed out of an end (FIG. 1) of :the cover 176 and through angle plug 178 and cable 180 to a suitable control panel (not shown) which contains the control apparatus shown schematically in FIGURE 6. After the continuity and concentricity tests have been .effected on the two groups of five lamps each by the mechanisms shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, the upper and lower conveyor chains 24 are indexed to bring the lamps into the reject station shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. Information concerning the condition of the lamps, as detected electrically by the apparatus described above, is received and stored in the circuit illustrated in FIG- URE 6 and described below, until the tested lamps reach the reject station. This information is then transmitted to solenoids 182 disposed in housing 184 mounted on brackets 1'86 attached to the main support shaft 50, the electrical connections from the referenced circuit to the solenoids 182 being made through cable 188. A shrinkage bin 190, provided with five pockets in alignment with the five lamps 10 at the reject station, is also mounted on the main support shaft 50.

If a lamp 10 is detected as being defective, its corresponding solenoid 182 is energized when that lamp is at the reject station shown in FIGURES 4 and 5 and the solenoid plunger 192 is actuated. The actuated plunger 192 moves downwardly, striking cam follower 36 on jaw 12, thereby causing clockwise rotation of jaw 12 about its pivot rod 16. Since, as was described above, (FIG. 2), gear 26 on rod 16 meshes with gear 28 on rod 18, the clockwise rotation of jaw 12 about its pivot rod 16 causes counter-clockwise rotation of jaw 14 about its pivot rod 18, thus effecting an opening of the jaws 12 and 14 to release the lamp 10 which falls into its pocket in shrinkage bin 190. When the solenoid 182 is de-energized, the plunger spring 194 returns the plunger from engagement with cam follower 36, thus permitting the spring 32 which bridges the jaws 12 and 14 to effect a return thereof to the closed position. Further indexing of the conveyor chains 24 advances the good lamps 10 to an unloading station where suitable means not shown deflects the several cam followers 38 to efliect an opening of the several jaws 12, 14 and discharge of the lamps to a suitable receptacle.

There are ten identical continuity-concentricity test and reject circuits, one of these circuits being illustrated in FIGURE 6. Line 1 is connected to a volt A.C. source, line 3 is connected to a 24 volt A.C. source, line 5 is connected to an 18 Volt DC. source, and line 7 is connected to a 40 volt D.C. source. When a lamp arrives in the test position, cam operated timing switch 9 closes, thus energizing coil 11 and effecting a closing of its normally open coil contacts 11a. This permits 24 volt A.C. power in line 3 to flow through coil contacts 11a and into the empty jaw circuit. Immediately thereafter, cam operated timing switch 57 closes, thus energizing coil 21 and effecting a closing of its normally open coil contacts 21a in the 18 volt D.C. line 5.

The continuity test circuit will now be described. As was described above in connection with the description of FIGURE 3, when a lamp 10 is in the test position, the end contact 13 thereof is in engagement with the spring-loaded electrical contact rod 104, and the metal base 15 of the lamp 10 which defines the side contact thereof is in engagement with the electrical contact plug 106, the rod 104 and the plunger 106 being insulated from one another. The rod-plug contacts 104, 106, identified in the circuit of FIGURE 6 as lamp continuity test contacts 29 are normally open. With empty jaw contacts 17 normally closed, and coil 19 energized by the M- volt AC. power from line 3 through closed coil contacts 11a, the normally closed contacts 19a of coil 19 will be opened, thus breaking the 18 Volt DC. 'line 5 and preventing the test under no lamp conditions. If a lamp 10 is in position to be tested, the normally closed contacts 17 are opened thereby, thus the coil 19 will not be energized, its normally closed contacts 19a will remain closed, and thus permit 18 volt DC. power in line 5 to flow through the coil contacts 21a of energized coil 21 and through contacts 19a to the bridge circuit 27 which includes resistors a, b, c and d.

With 18 volt DC. power flowing through contacts 19a,

bridge circuit 27, and test contacts 29 (members 106 and 104 in FIGURE 3), the contacts of coil 25 will swing either way depending on the quality of the lamp. If the lamp is good, the contacts of coil 25 will remain open, coil 23 will not be energized, and normally open contacts 23a in the holding circuit will remain open. If the lamp is bad, the contacts of coil 25 will close, to the left or to the right depending on whether the lamp resistance is abnormally low or abnormally high, coil 23 will be energized, and coil contacts 23a in the holding circuit will close. With cam operated timing switch 31 now closed, 110 volt AC power from line 1 flows therethrough and through closed coil contacts 23a to energize coil 33 and close its contacts 33a and 33b to permit rejection of the lamp at the reject station by the solenoid 182.

The concentricity test, which will now be described, is effected at the same time as the continuity test. In the concentricity check assembly 54 shown in FIGURE 3 and described above, the contact fingers 162 and the terminal screws 168 and 170 comprise the test contacts which are normally closed. These are identified in the circuit of FIGURE 6 as normally closed concentricity test contacts 35. Thus 24 volt AC. power from line 3 through normally closed concentricity test contacts 35 energizes coil 37 when the main circuit breaker is turned on and will not be de-energized until a defective, out-of-round, lamp breaks the contacts 35 by deflecting one or more of the contact fingers 162 (FIG. 3) from engagement with one or more terminal screws 168. The contacts 37a of coil 37 are normally closed, with all current ofi, but open when the 24 volt AC. power is applied to coil 37. Thus when cam operated timing switch 31 closes, the contacts 37a will be open, coil 39 will not be energized, and the lamp will be passed as good. If a lamp is defective, outof-round, and breaks the test contacts 35, coil 37 is deenergized, and its contacts 37a close. With contacts 37a closed, the 110 volt AC. power from line 1 through cam operated timing switch 31 energizes coil 39, and eflects a closing of coil contacts 39a. The coil contacts 39a remain closed until the lamp reaches the reject station, at which time cam operated timing switch 41 closes, energizing coil 43 and closing coil contacts 43a, thus permitting 40 volt D.C. power from line 7 to flow through coil contacts 43a. Since the coil contacts 39:: in the hold circuit are closed and their corresponding coil contacts 39b in the reject circuit are also closed, the reject solenoid (solenoid 182 in FIGS. and 6) is energized and the defective lamp is rejected. Cam operated timing switch 31 now opens, thus opening coil contacts 37a and deenergizing coil 39. With coil 39 de-energized, its contacts open, thus readying the circuit for the next test cycle. The several cam operated timing switches 9, 31, 41 and 57 described above are disposed on a common shaft (not shown) driven in synchronism with the main drive of the apparatus which advances the lamps supported from both the upper and the lower chain 24 into and out of the above-described testing positions.

In the operation of the test holding and reject circuit, if no lamp is present for testing, coil 19 will be energized, its contacts 19a will be opened and the contacts 23a will remain opened. Under no lamp conditions, normally closed concentricity test contacts 35 will remain closed. With contacts 37a open, coils 33 and 39 are not energized and their contacts stay open, so that when the empty head reaches the reject station, the reject solenoid will not be energized.

If there is a lamp in the head, but its continuity is defective, the contacts 23a of coil 23 close. When the cam operated timing switch 31 closes, coil 33 is energized through contacts 23a of coil 23. Contacts 33a close and hold until the lamp reaches the reject station.

If there is a lamp in the head and its continuity is good but its concentricity is not acceptable, coil 37 is deenergized and its contacts 37a close. With the contacts 37a closed, 110 volt AC. power from line 1 through cam operated timing switch 31 energizes coil 39 and closes its contacts 39a which hold its own coil 39 energized until the lamp reaches the reject station and is rejected.

Switch 47 is a normally closed, manually operated testing switch which, when opened, drops out all ten coils 37 and completes the reject circuit, simulating bad concentricity conditions. If the circuit is operating properly, test lamp 49 across coil 39 should light.

Switch 51 is a normally open, manually operated testing switch which, when closed, and with all heads containing lamps, simulates defective continuity by completing the circuit to ground.

Switches 53 and 55 associated with resistors e and f respectively, are normally open, manually operated test switches for simulating an abnormally low and abnormally high resistance lamp respectively.

Resistor g in the circuit with coil contacts 19b is a bleeder resistor to ground to keep the contacts from burning under missing lamp conditions.

What we claim is:

1. Apparatus for inspecting a finished photofiash lamp to determine whether or not its base is properly seated thereon, said apparatus comprising: a lampholder for supporting said lamp; a plurality of electrically conducting fingers; means for efliecting disposition of said fingers in encompassing relationship with respect to the envelope of said lamp; an electrical circuit including said fingers as contacts, said circuit including means, responsive to deflection of at least one of said fingers by said lamp envelope, to actuate said lampholder and efiect release of the lamp therefrom; and means for energizing said electrical circuit.

2. Apparatus for inspecting a finished photoflash lamp to determine whether or not its base is properly seated thereon, said apparatus comprising: a lampholder for supporting said lamp; a plurality of electrically conducting fingers; means for effecting disposition of said fingers in encompassing relationship with respect to the envelope of said lamp; an electrical circuit including said fingers as normally closed electrical contacts, said circuit including means, responsive to deflection of at least one of said fingers by said lamp envelope, to actuate said lampholder and effect release of the lamp therefrom; and means for energizing said electrical circuit while said fingers are in encompassing relationship with respect to the envelope of said lamp whereby breaking of said normally closed electrical contacts will effect actuation of said lampholder and release of the lamp therefrom.

3. Apparatus for inspecting finished photofi-ash lamps to determine whether or not its base is properly seated thereon, said apparatus comprising: a conveyor, having a plurality of lampholders thereon, for advancing lamps, supported by said lampholders, to a plurality of stations including an inspection station and a rejection station; a plurality of electrically conducting fingers disposed at said inspection station; means for advancing said fingers into encompassing relationship with respect to the envelope of said lamp; an electrical circuit, including said fingers as electrical contacts, said circuit including means, responsive to deflection of at least one of said fingers by said lamp envelope to efiect detection of an improperly seated base; an electrical memory means energized by the aforesaid energization of said electrical circuit; means at said rejection station for opening said lampholders to effect release of a lamp therefrom; and means, actuated by said memory means, for actuating said lampholder opening means.

4. Apparatus for inspecting finished photofiash lamps to determine whether or not the base thereof is properly seated thereon, said apparatus comprising: a conveyor, having a plurality of pairs of lampholders thereon, for advancing a plurality of lamps at a time, supported by said pairs of lampholders, to a plurality of stations including an inspection station and a rejection station; a plurality of sets of electrically conducting fingers disposed at said inspection station; means for advancing said sets of fingers into encompassing relationship with respect to the-envelopes of said lamps; a plurality of electrical cir cuits, each circuit including one of said sets of fingers as electrical contacts, and each circuit including means responsive to deflection of at least one of said fingers by said lamp envelope to eifect detection of an improperly seated base; a plurality of electrical memory means, each of which being energized by the aforementioned energization of one of said electrical circuits; a plurality of means at said rejection station for opening said pairs of lampholders to effect release of lamps therefrom; and means, actuated by each of said memory means, for actuating each of said lampholder opening means.

5. Apparatus for inspecting a finished photofiash lamp, having a base-end electrical contact and a base-side electrical contact, to test the electrical circuit continuity thereof, said apparatus comprising: a lampholder for supporting said lamp; a receptacle for receiving the base of said lamp, said receptacle including base-end electrical contact means and base-side electrical contact means; a second electrical circuit, including said base-end electrical contact means, said base-side electrical contact means and said first mentioned electrical circuit in series therewith, said second circuit including means, responsive only to an abnormal electrical characteristic in the said first circuit, to actuate said lampholder and effect release of the lamp therefrom; and means for energizing said second electrical circuit.

6. Apparatus for inspecting a finished photofiash lamp, having a base-end electrical contact and a base-side electrical contact, to test the electrical circuit continuity thereof, said apparatus comprising: a conveyor, having a plurality of lampholders thereon, for advancing lamps, supported by said lampholders, to a plurality of stations including an inspection station and a rejection station; a receptacle, for receiving the base of said lamp, disposed at said inspection station, said receptacle including base-end electrical contact means and base-side electrical contact means; means for advancing said receptacle into operative relationship with respect to said base, with the baseend contact and base-side contact of the said receptacle in engagement respectively with the base-end contact and base-side contact of said base; a second electrical circuit,

including the aforementioned several contacts in series,

said second circuit including means, responsive only to an abnormal electrical characteristic in the said first circuit; an electrical memory means energized by the said responsive portion of said second electrical circuit; means at said rejection station for opening said lampholders to effect release of a lamp therefrom; an'd'means, actuated by'saidmernory means, for actuating said lampholder opening means.

7. Apparatus for inspecting a finished photofiash lamp having a base-end electrical contact and a base-side electrical-contaot to check the seating of the lamp base on the lamp envelope and to test electrical circuit continuity thereof, said apparatus comprising: a conveyor having a plurality of lampholders thereon for advancing lamps supported by said lampholders to a plurality of stations including an inspection station and a rejection station; a plurality of electrically conducting fingers defining electrical contacts members disposed at said inspection station on one side thereof; a receptacle for receiving the base of a lamp disposed at said inspection station on the other side thereof, said receptacle including base-end electrical contact means and base-side electrical contact means; means for advancing said receptacle into seating engagement. with the lamp base and said fingers into encompassing relationship with respect to the lamp envelope; an electrical circuit including said fingers as normally closed contacts openable by deflection of at least one of said fingers by said lamp envelope and memory means actuated thereby; an electrical circuit, including said base-end elec- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,960,151 Gray May 22, 1934 1,988,702 Reeve Jan. 22, 1935 2,053,137 Donovan et al Sept. 1, 1936 2,338,868 Owen Jan. 11, 1944 2,339,638 Henszey et al Jan. 18, 1944 2,407,062 Darrah Sept. 3, 1946 2,582,494 Lorenz. Jan. 15, 1952 2,653,711 Flaws et a1 Sept. 29, 1953 2,859,871 Harlow et a1. Nov. 1 1, 1958 

